The Covid-19 variant Omicron XE has been found in every region of England since first being detected in in late January.
XE is known as a “recombinant” variant as it combines genetic characteristics of earlier Omicron variants BA.1 and BA.2.
Early data suggests the emerging variant is more transmissible than previous forms of Omicron – all of which have been highly transmissible compared with earlier variants.
A World Health Organisation report said XE appeared to have a growth rate 10 per cent higher than BA.2, for instance.
The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) had recorded 1,179 cases of XE by the time of its latest report on 5 April, up from 637 a fortnight earlier.
The vast majority of cases were found in the south and east of England.
While XE cases for other UK nations have not been reported, Northern Ireland’s Public Health Agency said it had detected a handful of cases.
The number of cases broken down by English region is as follows:
- London: 331
- Southeast: 241
- East of England: 207
- Southwest: 135
- West Midlands: 96
- East Midlands: 51
- Northwest: 50
- Northeast: 28
- Yorkshire and the Humber: 14
The UKHSA said there were 26 cases that could not be located to a region.
An expert warned on Tuesday that XE is likely to become the dominant variant in the UK.
The spread of the new variant and the wider state of the pandemic in Britain should be more clear after the new UKHSA report is released next week.
Covid-19 cases have been declining across the UK since the end of March, though this is likely due to the end of free testing.
The number of people infected with the virus was estimated to have hit a record high around the time that free testing ended on 31 March. The Zoe Covid Study said 349,011 were then being infected each day.
Three weeks on, the government recorded 21,393 cases on the latest available day. The Zoe study estimated there were more than 10 times that figure, at 227,702, on 18 April.
By Zoe’s estimate, a total of 3.8 million people in the UK had Covid on 19 April, down from 4.6 million a fortnight earlier.
